The Way We Are
by xXDarknessFallsWeRiseXx
Summary: AU:DarkJacexDarkClary.The twisted game of manipulation with no rules,no limits.Nobody's safe and family is the first to go.All that matters is checkmate.The prize,each other,forever,but forever is a very long time.  Now officially a multi chaptered fanfic
1. Prologue

The Way We Are

**Ok guys, so this is my first story so please bear with me if it's really crappy. And please review, it would be much appreciated!**

**Warning: Pairing: EvilClary x EvilJace**

**BTW I do not own Jace or Clary or anyone really! Just their AU personalities!**

**Music to listen to whilst reading: For you only – trading yesterday**

**xXDarknessFallsWeRiseXx**

Prologue

They first met in Summer. They were fresh-faced and young, only thirteen years old but were mischievous children that liked to wreak havoc. The moment they met, they just clicked into place. Together. He was running down the street, his nanny frantically chasing after him when he crashed into her, the adorable little girl with all the adults surrounding her, wrapped around her little finger. He, for the first time, acts like a perfect gentlemen and offers his hand to help her up. She shakes her head and gets up herself, smoothing down the front of her white dress.

"I'm Clary."

"I'm Jace."

From then on it was a flurry of white chocolate, pink ribbons and yellow daffodils. (When what she really wanted was dark chocolate, tattered black ribbons and bloodstained red roses.)

They meet again in the same place. Except this time it was from across a brightly lit and crowded ballroom, eyes catching each other almost instantly. He smirks and her breath catches. (It's never done that before.)

He crosses the ballroom, casually flirting with a few young ladies before moving on, closer to her. (She pretends that sudden ache in her chest isn't jealousy.)

He finally reaches her whilst she's striking up conversation with a handsome (smitten), young (naive) shadowhunter. He has a glint in his eyes, one that she's seen many times before. On the faces of all the young men that she's strung along for fun. (She tells herself she doesn't care. She does.)

They carelessly flirt and jab at one another, in a cautious dance of lies, concealed truths and sinful glances. They catch up. Her mother is gone. Her brother is annoying. Her father is evil. His father was slaughtered. His mother suicided. He is alone. None of these things are mentioned. He's grown up and so has she. He's devilishly handsome and she's wickedly beautiful and they're aware of it. They gloat and drown in their own vain splendor, and laugh at other people's misfortune. (Never their own). They spot a blond haired boy with a broken nose chatting up a short, frizzy-haired red-head. They laugh. (They don't dare mention the similarities or the happiness that radiated off the eerily familiar couple.)

The night has ended and they're ready to go, they had long ago drifted away from each other to find their next victims. As they walk out they don't even bother to say goodbye, merely sending one another secret winks that promise much. He leaves with a harem of girls and she with awestruck followers. (She brushes against him with an airy apology, a light giggle, and a flutter of eyelashes that leaves him momentarily stunned.)

They keep bumping into each other. It's accidental of course. (They would never purposely look for one another. ) and they soon have a daily ritual of hanging around the Accords Hall, pointing out the flaws of each unfortunate passer-by to enter their view. (They never look at each other when they make those snide comments.)

_She wishes he was just a toy so she could use him and discard him. (But she can't, she won't and that's what scares her.)_

He introduces her to his friends slash family, the Lightwood's. The parents think her an angel (They both give sly looks at each other.) and the three siblings worship the ground they stand on. They all hang out together and pretend to be the 'innocent angels' the family believes them to be. (The siblings never notice the not-so-subtle devious looks exchanged between the pair of angels.)

_She loved him and she knew that he loved her. (But love has never been her or their forte and she just has that gut feeling that it wasn't going to end well.)_

Her father has started a war and they're on opposite sides. They don't notice. (Yes she does). She chooses her family. He chooses his. It's not as if they're selfless because they're terribly selfish, but because this _love_ that they have for one another frightens them and they don't really want a Romeo and Juliet love story. They're too selfish to die for something as stupid and ridiculous as _love. _

And like their re-meeting so long ago, they are in the same ballroom as before, negotiating terms to an alliance. Her by her father's side and he by his family's side, on different sides of the room. She has lost many of her soldiers, not that she cares or has noticed. He has lost friends and family and cares, and notices. His now unforgiving stare penetrates her icy black heart and she almost feels regret. Almost. They realise what this scene looks like and they don't like it. Neither one of the two twisted, cruel individuals want to restart this vicious circle that they have invented for themselves. So this time, he stays put, doesn't move or look at her. And neither does she.

_She wanted him to be hers forever and ever and ever. (But forever is a very long time.)_

**Thank you very much everybody and I hoped you enjoyed. If you liked it or didn't liked it, please review! It is very much appreciated!**

**XXDarknessFallsWeRiseXx**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A young boy, though now officially a teenager, runs down the street like the devil is on his tail. He crashes and careens into people walking casually on the street without so much as a 'how do you do?' or an apology.

"Jonathan Christopher Herondale, GET BACK HERE!"

And just as he turns left off the street, another mad runner, this time a middle aged woman, appears on the street, chasing after the youngster, leaving behind a swarm of very disgruntled shadowhunters. The nanny, for that was what she was, runs after the boy only to come across a very peculiar sight.

The boy had crashed into a young girl with fiery red curls, who was spread-eagled on the ground. The peculiar sight however, was the outstretched hand the troublesome boy had offered the girl. What became more astonishing was the girl, and how she merely shook her head and got up by herself, ignoring the boy's hand and only taking it to introduce herself.

"I'm Clary."

The boy, Jonathan Christopher Herondale, looked absolutely befuddled. Slowly he clasps her hand, brings her hand to his lips and kisses the back of it. Like a true shadowhunter gentleman. The girl doesn't even bat an eye.

"I'm Jace."

From then on they were inseparable, the best of friends. He'd go to her house almost every day with a new batch of flowers and a box of chocolates to share on their new adventurous day. They'd come home exhausted from a day's worth of running around and pulling...harmless...pranks but always with a wide grin on their faces.

_Though looking back, they could be interpreted as sly smirks and deceitful eyes._

By the time they were 14, their parents had drawn up a marriage contract.

_By the tender age of 14, they had already become the masters of manipulation._

Then all of a sudden a war begins. Everybody's confused as to how it started and why. Nobody knew who they were fighting anymore, they just knew to fight...for survival. Their own, their family's and their friends.

_Though of course, those two were already selfish enough to throw everybody else under a metaphorical bus for their own self preservation. They took the phrase 'everybody for themselves' to an all new level. _

The two 'besties' were _tragically _ripped apart, when Clary was whisked away to a safe place and Jace began training with frightening intensity to become a fully fledged shadowhunter. They soon forgot about each other; after all, they had their own lives to live and they didn't need or want anyone.

They meet again 3 years later, and a ripe age of 17, across the Great Hall, Like a moth to a flame, their 'dark' eyes immediately seek each other out. Smirks adorning their picture perfect faces.

Nobody realised until it was far too late, just how badly their story would end...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The ballroom is teeming with life, light and happiness. As it should be, as a major battle had been won and most of the shadowhunters that went off to war, had come home to anxious, proud and relieved families. The ball was to celebrate their success and the proud achievements of the young warriors.

There was one young man however, who didn't come home to a happy family. But by the way he was casually sipping his scotch, you wouldn't be able to tell that he had just lost everything. His aura and persona reeked of confidence and nonchalance. His carefully maintained mask showed none of his inner turmoil at the loss of his entire family. If you hadn't known him beforehand, you wouldn't have realised that his father had lost his life in a battle and his mother had taken her own life in despair.

_Selfish woman! _He thought. _You really loved him that much as to kill yourself and leave me with absolutely nothing except your money, the house and your 'sympathetic' friends? I hate sympathy! The way that they look at you like you lost something that can't be replaced. Stupid sympathy, so useless. _As the young man viciously degraded his 'useless, no good' parents, he failed to notice the pair of vivid green eyes, following his every movement. Just as he was about to look up and see said eyes, a person blocked his view.

"Hi Jace! OMG it is soo good to see you again, you're even better looking than in your photo..."

screeched a high pitched, nasally voice that was extremely irritable to Jace's eardrums. But to keep up his innocent facade, he politely faked interest whilst yawning on the inside.

_Angel, the girl NEVER stops talking, _he thinks as the girl rambles on and on about something or other, _She's like a stupid drama show where they never stop talking about girl stuff, don't they have anything better to do? _

As he thinks this, and his eyes wander, he notices a flash of red and a familiar laughter ringing out in the hall nearby. His eyes finally find the young girl, though more like woman, surrounded by a crowd of wide-eyed admirers, charming everyone around her. Almost as if it was fate, _fate! what a joke! He scoffs, _their eyes meet in their own sordid rendition of one of those cheesy movie moments. It is automatically ruined by small smirks and suggestive winks.

"hello, Jace? Jace? Are you listening to me?" the distracted young man is instantly brought back into reality by the irritated girl waving her hands in his face. He gently grabs her hands and puts them down with a brief flash of irritation crossing his face, and softly hold her face in his hands. She instantly melts, her face morphing into a dreamy expression.

_Putty in my hands_ he thinks as he glances at the red head girl again. He smirks as he sees the quick flicker of jealousy on her pretty face.

"Don't worry my dear, I shall see you again" he announces dramatically swooping down and kissing her chastely on the lips before moving to leave. However, a hand clinging onto his wrist stops him. He turns around.

"But you don't even know my name?" she pouts, trying to look seductive, but only succeeding in looking like she's in pain.

"My dear, I don't believe that I need to. I shall find you again, no matter what." As he says this, he kisses the back of her hand softly, and quickly strides away before she could recover and pull him back.

"It's Kaelie!" she cries out as she finally recovers.

He merely smirks, making a mental note to avoid her if she manages to find him. He makes a beeline towards the bewitching redhead that he'd been eyeing for the past 5 minutes.

And almost as if fate really, REALLY hated him, another girl blocks his way.

"I'm Aline!" she squeals. He mentally groans but decides to humour her.

"And I'm Jace."

"I know... I mean, I know who you are!" _of course you do, _he thinks, _who wouldn't know me? The hot young soldier who happens to be free and absolutely charming. All the girls will be drooling if you manage to bag me. To bad for you, I don't plan on staying with one person for the rest of my life. Life's too short. _

"Oh?"

"Yeah, all the girls talk about you. The hottest guy in town." _Bingo_

"Oh really?" he smirks, "How flattering." he murmurs, quickly making up his mind and boldly, kisses her on the cheek.

"Goodbye sweet Aline, and may the Angel be kind and let me never see you again..." he rushes away as he says this, barely containing his snickers. Dumbstruck Aline stays rooted on the spot before starting to cry and running out the room.

By the time he reaches the mysterious red head girl his laughter had died down and he saw that she had a small smile playing on her lips. With a strange feeling stabbing him deep inside his chest, he dismisses the young man that she was 'entertaining' with a cold look, and turns to her as she smirks at him with a triumphant look in her emerald eyes.

"Do I somehow know you?" he asks politely, staring at her with a false look of slight confusion.

Her smirk turns into a faux pouts whilst replying,

"I can't believe you don't remember me...Jacey-poo"

His eyes widen momentarily before he takes her hand and twirls her in a little circle, as he looks at her with astonishment.

"Clare-bear?"

She smiles at him.

"Surprised?"

"Very." he replies with an appreciative glance at her, to which she playfully slaps his arm for.

"Stop being a pervert."

"I'm not being perverted, just...inspecting the goods." To this she puts down her champagne glass and shoves him a little.

"No, you're being perverted and ogling me, not that I don't like the attention, but..."

"I'm allowed, after all, I haven't seen you in three years."

To this she grins and replies,

"Then we've got a lot of catching up to do."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"How've you been?"

"Good"

"How's the parents?" a gleam of amusement in his eyes

"How's yours?" a gleam of satisfaction in hers. He falters but immediately masks his discomfort.

"Happiest they'll ever be." a sly smile from her, a stiff look on him.

"I'm sure, especially if they knew where you're headed"

"Where I'm headed?"

"Six feet under" she replies, inspecting her meticulously well-kept nails.

"Charming. But I plan on stick for a little while longer."

"Define little."

"If I get what I want, which I always do," he tries to stare her down, only to see her not paying attention. But he'd known her for too long for him to be deceived by her uninterested front, she's curious inside and he's not afraid to use it to his advantage. "I'll have the world at my feet forever, and I'll never be left wanting something again." He's only half-joking of course, he wouldn't mind the world at his feet. His eyes not-so-subtly admire her body. She doesn't react. She's far too good at acting to react, he'd have to try harder.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"Where've you been?" this time he genuinely wants to hear the answer to his question as he has pondered the answer to the question during the entirety of their 'conversation'.

"Around." She responds vaguely and with an air of nonchalance that would usually satisfy any normal person. But anybody could tell that they weren't normal.

"Around?"

"A safe place?"

"So what about family?" He's taken off guard by the sudden change of topic and this particular comment that was so casually delivered that a normal person wouldn't have noticed the hidden barb.

"I'll find another one."

"So easily replaceable?" she murmurs.

"Useless really."

"They mean that little to you?"

"Of course."

"I'm sorry." Again, he's caught off guard.

"What for?"

"Your parents." Now, he's wary. Knowing Clary as well as he does, he knows that anything that comes out of her mouth could have a double meaning.

"Why?"

"They're dead aren't they?"

"Of course."

"You must be absolutely devastated." She knows he's not and even if she didn't, she wouldn't care.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason. I was just making conversation and I really am sorry."

As she says this, she looks up and he sees what many people would have mistaken for, a genuine look of sympathy on her face.

_Aagh, I see now, sympathy. You know that if there is one thing that I hate from people it's sympathy. So that's what you game is. The sly she-devil managed to actually look sincere. She's gotten good at perfecting her charades. She's finally upped the anti in this little battle and this could get quite interesting._

"They were good friends."

"Were they?"

"Yes, they'd always bring you over to my house every day so we could go out and have fun together."

"You're point?"

"I'm glad that they're dead," she says offhandedly. Only she could pull that off. "They were holding you back."

"Holding me back?"

"Yes. Now that they're out of your way you can finally become whatever you want to, live up to your true potential."

"Oh, so this is what our entire conversation is about." He finally understands the small talk. She smirks.

"You remember don't you? Our little game, our chess pieces and the final checkmate. There are no rules, no limits, but there's no going back either."

"Hard to forget." he says dryly. She glances at him, takes him arm and they start walking around the hall, in silence, observing their 'chess pieces'.

"It's your turn now," she says suddenly, "and you'd better be ready for the repercussions of your actions. Don't look scared. In the end, all that matters is getting what you want. All that matters is winning. Keep your eye on the prize and let nothing get in your way."

"I remember." he says indifferently.

They stop in front of a large mirror. She lets go of his arm and observes them in the mirror.

"Look at us. Seventeen and on top of the world."

"Forever."

"Maybe."

"Definitely."

"Depends."

"On what?"

"If we'll end up like this," pointing at their reflection, "or like them." He follows her hand in the direction she's pointing and sees a rather unremarkable couple standing to the side of the Great Hall.

"Take your pick."

He scrutinises the couple awkwardly standing near the doorway of the Great Hall. At first glance, nobody would give them a second look, but to the observant couple, they held some startling and very uncomfortable, similarities to themselves. The other couple consisted of a short red head with frizzy hair and buck teeth. The boy was quite tall but his face seemed a bit odd as his nose was slightly bent out of shape. Not very obvious, but enough to make people avoid him. What they both fail to notice, or are ignoring, is the fact that they seem to be perfectly fine with their flaws and seem to wholeheartedly accept them, and each other.

Jace turns away, shifting uncomfortably, and turns back to his conversational partner. She arches an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Clearing his throat he murmurs back,

"Perfection is much more enticing don't you think?"

Smirking she merely says,

"Only if you can achieve it."

There is a moment of silence between the pair, neither completely sure of what to say next.

"If you were to choose sides in a cliched sort of story, would you be good or evil?"

This haphazard enquiry took Clary momentarily off guard before she shoots him a bemused look whilst saying,

"Good or evil? Is there really such a thing?"

"I said cliché didn't I?"

"Very well, if I had to choose, I would choose...evil."

Not surprised he asks her, why. She just laughs and says

"Because I think I'm more evil than good and in the real world, evil with so many resources, should win. Not to mention the fact that evil will always triumph over good because good is stupid and overrated. Evil is so much more fun. No rules, no limits."

"I'm not surprised."

"You shouldn't be, if you were than you're dafter than you look."

"Ouch."

"No offence."

"None taken."

Feeling the tension in the air, he breaks it with a question that he'd been curious about for a while.

"Where've you been?"

There was a pause before she replied, albeit a little sarcastically,

"To the moon, and back."

"Was it nice up there?" he asked with an eyeroll.

"Absolutely, the most beautiful place you will ever see."

A mocking sneer.

"Really?"

"Of course not, don't be an idiot."

"So where have you been?"

"Around." She replies nonchalantly.

A disbelieving glare.

"That's all I get, after everything we've been through together?" he cries dramatically.

She looks at him, exasperated.

"What did you expect me to do, recount you my entire life story? Get real!"

"I am real."

For the first time that night he was thoroughly surprised. Instead of retaliating with a cutting remark like she normally would, she just walked away without a backwards glance, getting swallowed up in the crowd and lost in sight.

Jace sighs.

"Women, so annoying at times. There are moments like these that I think that it would be easier to just be gay. Women are not worth the trouble."

As he say this, a flock of girls surround him and start bombarding him with talk.

With another heavy sigh he looks to the sky and thinks, _Oh the cruel, cruel irony. Why do you hate me so much God? What have I ever done to you? Wait! Scratch that! Don't answer that question! _Another sigh. _Oh karma, thou art a heartless bitch._


End file.
